With most of the cars from the original muscle era now having at least 40 years’ worth of experiences behind them, the stories we hear from owners are vast and varied, and often quite entertaining. Naturally, the best tales come from those who have held onto the same cars for decades, and it’s all the better when these owners have photographic evidence to support their account of past exploits.

For the next issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines, we’ve gathered three cars and the owners who have held onto them over the past 40 years or so, laying out their personal histories in timeline form to depict the changes each endured as the years rolled by and various trends in automotive and personal style came and went. All of our subjects have not only survived, but each currently displays the effects of contemporary restorations that have them looking better than they likely did when their owners first took title – in fact, they might all look better now than on the day they rolled off their respective assembly lines.

Our “Memory Makers” feature cars include a 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible that morphed from a sedate boat hauler to a thoroughly correct-appearing Judge tribute, showing a number of variations in between as many miles piled up along the way, wearing out several sets of seat covers, convertible tops, and four or five paint jobs. Another family still maintains the 1968 Olds 4-4-2 convertible their patriarch brought home as a year-old demo unit. It’s been a family hauler, hot rod, a languishing restoration project and finally, a like-new show cruiser. Yet another owner has possessed his 1967 Shelby G.T. 500 since he was 18 years old, when he had the chance to buy the car he’d first seen when his neighbor rolled it onto the block after purchasing it new.

Keep an eye out for the August issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines to get the full stories on each of these feature cars along with additional vintage photos and, of course, our usual full-color spread on the cars as they appear today.

Those wheels pictured on this GTO were made by Rader in Long Beach, CA which was once a big company in the aftermarket wheel biz back then. George Barris used similar Rader wheels on the original version of the Mannix Dart convertible.

Rader also had a BBS-looking lace “mag” wheel before BBS had it! THis version of Rader wheel was supplied as a dealer accessory for FIAT and some Alfas in the late 1960s. It came with red “FIAT” logos on the centers.

These are stories I can certainly identify with! I still have my 1969 Z/28 that I ordered & bought new (with some help from Dad) when I was 16. Almost parted with it during the mid-70′s oil crisis, but Dad warned against doing that. My life has been keenly intertwined with that car and so a professional restoration has been No. 1 on my bucket list for many years. Finally last September, I put it in a professional shop. Reassembly of body and subframe is presently underway. Might be behind the wheel by the end of this summer. And my 25-yr-old daughter will be riding along for the first time.

Fentons didnt have magnesium centers, they were aluminum. Riveted to the steel rim.

Can you guys do one issue on younger guys with muscle cars please? If you want this hobby to exist after these original owners die you need to start featuring some younger cats that have these cars. These original owner issues are getting old, pun intended.

I’m a young cat who would love to play with the 60′s and 70′s Mustang’s, Thunderbird’s, Fairlane’s, Torino’s, Galaxie’s, Falcons, and the Mercury’s and Lincoln’s too. Those cars are to expensive for me though. So I have to stick with my cheap 80′s and 90′s Ford Lincoln Mercury’s to play with.

If you have not subscribed to Hemmings Muscle Machines, you must! The stories of these three cars and their owners are covered in detail in the current issues and they are a great example of the type of stories that you read about every month in Hemmings Muscle Machines. It is “car none” the single best car magazine I have ever subscibed to!